Lagos: Getting the right diagnosis is an essential aspect of healthcare because it provides a reading or an explanation of a patient’s health problem, which helps to inform subsequent health care decisions. Diagnosis is the process of identifying the nature of an ailment, disorder, or challenge by examining the signs and symptoms to distinguish it from other possible conditions.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, making a diagnosis involves taking a medical history, performing a physical exam, obtaining diagnostic tests, and using all the information or data generated, to arrive at a reasonable cause of an ailment. Diagnostics includes medical devices, techniques, and procedures used for in vitro and in vivo determination of physiological status or presence and characteristics of a disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says. Examples of in vitro diagnostics include laboratory tests (such as blood or urine tests); in vivo diagnostics include imaging tests (such as chest radiography, mammography, or pelvic ultrasound) and other types of tests such as thermometer, electrocardiogram, pulse oximeters, endoscopes, or blood pressure measurement devices.
However, a misdiagnosis-the incorrect diagnosis of a condition or disease-can occur, leading to a range of challenges for patients and healthcare providers. This, health practitioners have decried, identifying that the causes could be multifactorial, needing a collaborative approach to tackle. Dr. Caleb Yakubu, a Consultant Radiologist, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said there were different factors that could cause medical misdiagnosis, which might be detrimental to a patient’s health.
Yakubu, also the Coordinator, One-Stop-Breast Clinic, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said that misdiagnosis could occur due to faulty or low-quality equipment. He said that also, laboratory personnel, due to the quest for profit, sometimes, compromised the quality of diagnosis by using fake and substandard equipment to carry out medical diagnosis. “Such medical investigations might end up in misdiagnosis.”
He explained that using obsolete equipment could be another cause of misdiagnosis as many private and public health facilities could not afford to replace them with modernized ones. According to him, another reason is that some laboratory personnel lack the requisite competence and expertise to effectively carry out some categories of diagnoses. “Sometimes, the diagnostic kits and chemicals may be fake and because of the desire for selfish-profiteering, a medical personnel will use such equipment to carry out diagnosis on patients, of which the outcome will be misdiagnosis/medical error.”
Dr. Albert Eze highlighted some of the consequences of misdiagnosis, stating it had negative effects on the mental and physical well-being of patients. “It leads to wrong and preventable treatments that are not needed. In some instances, patients may take medications that are not needed, which result in other ailments or even lead to death. Some ‘victims’ may undergo surgeries and therapies that are not required,” he said.
Similarly, medical interventions and treatments that were not needed also affect patients psychologically, Dr. Maymunnah Kadiri, a Mental Health Physician, said. “It can cause fear and trauma, lead to developing high blood pressure, stroke or even heart attack, and if not managed well, death. In addition to physical harm and emotional distress, misdiagnoses add to financial burdens on patients and their families,” said Kadiri, also a Consultant Neuro-Psychiatrist.
Proffering ways to address misdiagnosis in the country, Dr. Livinus Abonyi, a Medical Imaging Scientist, said there was urgent need for adequate funding of health facilities and a functional National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for the country. Abonyi identified limited investigation, which could occur as result of obsolete/substandard equipment, poor funding, lack of experienced personnel or quest for excessive profit, as a major factor that causes misdiagnosis.
He explained that with adequate funding, the problem of obsolete equipment, training of personnel among others that contribute to misdiagnosis, would be addressed. According to him, many patients lack the financial capability to pay for the needed medical investigations, hence, the need for NHIS to offset medical bills for the citizens. He explained that there was an Act that made it compulsory for many companies, established corporate organisations and alike, to pay into the funding of health of Nigerian citizens, lamenting that the Act was barely 10 per cent implemented.
Mr. Olamide Fadipe, a Laboratory Scientist, said that patients and their relatives also have a role to play in ensuring accurate medical diagnosis. Fadipe, who said that accurate diagnosis was key to effective management of patients/diseases, advised patients to always ensure they gave correct information about their health conditions. He also identified waste of resources, increased mortality, increased length of hospital stay, death, depression on patients/relatives and increased strain on workforce among others, as some of the outcomes of misdiagnosis.
All in all, the experts said the consequences of misdiagnosis on patients go beyond the initial inaccuracy in diagnosis. The physical, emotional, and financial toll cannot be quantified hence the urgent need to address all the root causes of misdiagnosis. It is also crucial to implement and monitor strategies to enhance diagnostic accuracy within the healthcare system to prevent illnesses and deaths that could arise from misdiagnosis, they advised.